Iraqi premier undercut by his own sect

Shiite militia fighters hold up their weapons in Nukhayb village in the embattled Anbar province.

Shiite militia fighters hold up their weapons in Nukhayb village in the embattled Anbar province.

Photo: Mohammed Sawaf / AFP / Getty Images

Iraqi premier undercut by his own sect

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BAGHDAD — As it moves to try to reverse the stunning loss of Ramadi, the capital of Iraq’s largest Sunni province, the Shiite-led government is hamstrung by the sectarian politics it has failed to overcome ever since the Islamic State group began its rampage more than a year ago.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi vowed Tuesday to arm Sunni tribesmen to help retake Ramadi, a plan the United States has encouraged to better empower the minority community in the fight to defend their cities and to reduce their support for the Sunni extremists.

But the pledge met immediate skepticism from Sunnis, given that similar promises after Islamic State militants seized the northern city of Mosul last summer were barely implemented.

It also met quick resistance from Shiite rivals within al-Abadi’s own government, who oppose arming Sunnis.

At the same time, the government was rallying Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen to join the offensive, raising the prospect of dangerous frictions in a country that was nearly torn to pieces by bloody Shiite-Sunni violence from 2006-2007. Though the Shiite militiamen have been crucial to reversing other losses to Islamic State militants, they have also been accused of abuses against Sunni residents of those areas.

Around 3,000 Shiite militiamen have deployed near Ramadi, most in the Habbaniya military base and the town of Khaldiya, east of the city. Others deployed on routes from Anbar province toward southern Iraq to prevent any Islamic State attempt to advance on Shiite holy sites there.

The capture of Ramadi was a major blow to the U.S.-backed strategy against the Islamic State group. Over the past months, the combination of regular troops, Shiite militias and Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led air strikes have managed to seize back territory from Islamic State across northern and western Iraq.

But on Sunday, the security forces and Sunni militiamen who had been battling the extremists in Ramadi for months collapsed as Islamic State fighters overran the city. The militants gained not only new territory 70 miles west of Baghdad, but also large stocks of weapons abandoned by the government forces as they fled.

The city’s fall is a major test for the Shiite al-Abadi, who came to power eight months ago promising to better embrace the Sunni minority to reduce support in the community for the Islamic State.